Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe
So, if we were looking at a pie chart of why Clinton was impeached, how big would the "payback for Nixon" slice be?
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I would guess, for some of the older hands on the Republican side, it might be a big slice. But, I would guess that for most Republicans, it was pretty much the same political motivation that drove the attempt to impeach Nixon--to win the next election. Politics is a dirty business. It always has been. I pointed out the Nixon thing in response to your suggestion that the Clinton impeachment started the current "polarization." Whatever you read that suggested that to you, may have left out earlier precedents, such as the Nixon thing (which really compares closely to the Clinton impeachment) that contributed to our "polarization." Actually, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, we've always been so. I think it can be traced back to the federalist/anti-federalist debates. There seems always to be a bone of contention in our politcs between a pull toward a strong central government versus more emphasis on local rule. Even now, when both parties have evolved more strongly in the federalist direction, they are ideologically split between those who want the federal government to be more involved in what used to be matters of state, local, and even individual responsibility, and those who, at least pretend to, oppose that intrusion. And the ideological divide is diametric.